


Dreams Tonite

by Bouncey



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: Dingoes Ate My Baby, Dream Sequence, F/M, Fluff, Ghost Willow, Halloween 1998, Oneshot?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-04
Updated: 2020-03-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:53:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23015077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bouncey/pseuds/Bouncey
Summary: Oz sees his Mystery Girl for a second time on Halloween in 1998 and asks, "Who is that girl?"He doesn't know yet, but that doesn't stop her from making an appearance in his dreams.Based on the Alvvays song "Dreams Tonite".
Relationships: Daniel "Oz" Osbourne/Willow Rosenberg
Kudos: 14





	Dreams Tonite

**Author's Note:**

> Might edit this/make it longer? Depends on if you guys think this is a good base. Lemme know. I'm open to gentle criticism and ideas for extending/editing it. Thanks!

Oz lounged half-heartedly on a beanbag in Devon’s garage; the Dingoes had been practicing for the last two hours and he was ready to call it quits. He didn’t want to sit and listen as the bassist bitched and moaned about the riff in Devon’s newest song for another five minutes. It was Halloween, for Pete’s sake, and he had other things he could be doing with his time. He closed his guitar case with a loud _click_ and stood from the beanbag, shocking the bassist into silence. “I’m gonna head home, guys.”

“Already?” Devon questioned.

“Dude, it’s been over two hours and we’ve only gotten through three songs. I wanna catch _Halloween_ when it plays on channel eight tonight, anyway.”

“Alright, whatever. See you later, man.”

“Later, guys.” Oz flashed the peace sign over his shoulder on his way through the garage’s side door. He jogged down the driveway and settled comfortably into the driver’s seat of his zebra-striped van. He turned the ignition, relieved yet again when the engine came to life (the van was a beast with its own agenda, Oz had come to realize). Some trashy grunge band was playing on the local radio station and he grooved to the drumbeat as he pulled out of Devon’s driveway. The streets had emptied of trick-or-treaters and their parents at some point during practice. Only a few straggling teens still made their way between garage hang-outs or basement parties.

Oz had just rolled up to a stop sign when it happened: the most beautiful creature to ever grace the city limits of Sunnydale crossed in front of his van, illuminated in all her ethereal glory by his headlights. It felt like all of the oxygen in the world suddenly belonged to her, and she had willed his lungs to empty. He was breathless. The way her coppery hair was piled haphazardly on top of her head, the way the leather skirt hugged her hips, and the way her crop top emphasized the smooth lines of her collarbones drew Oz’s gaze. He knew he’d seen her once before at the Bronze, but she’d been dressed in a heavy Inuit-style fur coat then. “Who _is_ that girl?” he asked the empty air. He was entranced! Enchanted! Elated! Oz sighed and craned his head to watch her finally disappear around the block. It was too late for him. Oz was in love.

_What’s your name? I’m Oz._

He’d written the same note alongside his phone number on a thousand scraps of paper, but they never seemed to leave his hand until they were dropped unceremoniously into the trash. He was desperate to know the identity of his Mystery Girl but he didn’t want to approach her and make her uncomfortable. He knew she roamed the halls of Sunnydale High. He saw her existence everywhere he looked. There were flashes of her pastel sweaters as he passed by in the cafeteria and the shine of her glossy red hair through the library window as he made his way to the parking lot after school. Glimpses of her filled his chest with elation and his head with music. He’d written her three guitar riffs before he’d even realized the pencil was in his hand. 

He had even started dreaming about her.

_Oz found himself sitting cross-legged on a quilt spread across the manicured grass lawn of Sunnydale High. The Girl was sitting next to him, hands steepled beneath her chin and eyes narrowed. “What’s the meaning of life, Oz?” she asked in that soft, fairytale voice of hers._

_“I don’t know.”_

_“Me either.”_

_She changed positions, planting her hands just behind her butt and straightening her arms to support her torso as she leaned back to bask in the midday light. Her eyes were closed and Oz had the sudden urge to reach out and touch her hand. “You_ can _touch me, you know,” she informed him, eyes still closed. “It’s just a dream, after all.”_

_“Is it? That’s too bad.”_

_“Yeah,” she sighed. One eye opened to look at him, “It really is.”_

_“Would you mind if I touched you?” he asked. She shook her head_ no _and the curtain of her hair wafted the scent of her shampoo towards him. It was fruity. It made sense. Everything she did seemed so...right. She dressed the way she wanted, did her hair the way she wanted, and she didn’t give a solitary shit about what other people said in regards to her decisions. Maybe that was why he liked her so much; the Girl did whatever made her happy, ambivalent to how it may impact her social status at Sunnydale High. She wasn’t as innocent as her pastel sweaters suggested, but she was caring to the core, and that was beautiful._

_He reached up and touched the Girl’s cheek, reveling in her sun-warm softness. He would die to hold her hand. He would break his guitar and sell his van to make her smile intentionally in his direction. He would fight every boy at Sunnydale High, Thunderdome style, if she would press her strawberry chapstick lips to his just once. She was looking directly at him, now. “I’m still just a dream, Oz.”_

_“You don’t have to ruin it,” he frowned. She sat up, crossed her legs, and casually folded her hands in her lap._

_“I’m sorry, Oz.I just don’t want you to build me wrong. I’m a person, you know?”_

_“Yeah, I’m sorry. It’s just that...I think I’m in love with you but I don’t even know your name.”_

_“Ask me, then.”_

_“Now?”_

_“When you’re awake, dumbass,” the Girl smiled. He smiled back. She was right, of course. From her top spot on the honor roll semester after semester, he knew she was bound to be right most (if not all) of the time. Now it was his turn to close his eyes and turn his face towards the heat of the California sun._

When he opened them again he was waking up. The presence of his Mystery Girl had faded from the dream, but not his mind. He was going to ask for her name today. No matter what.


End file.
